


Alma Mater

by Medie



Category: Fringe, X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Community: fandom_stocking, Crossover, Gen, X-Men Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-05
Updated: 2012-01-05
Packaged: 2017-10-28 23:26:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/313330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been years since she was at the school, years since she buried her powers down deep, walked out of Xavier's and into the first university that would take her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alma Mater

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wanderlustlover](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderlustlover/gifts).



Being back feels strange. It's been years since she was at the school, years since she buried her powers down deep, walked out of Xavier's and into the first university that would take her. Years since she burst into the FBI, mutancy all but forgotten, and took the place by storm.

Coming back, Olivia feels like a stranger. Or, worse, a ghost.

"I'd ask if it's that bad," a familiar voice says, even before the door swings open and Jean is standing there, "but I know better."

Olivia smiles, pushing her hands into her pockets. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Jean grins back. "Do you always believe everything you read?"

"Satellite footage never lies," Olivia says. She doesn't remember much about that day, when the world had collapsed in agony, screaming about pressure in their heads while she tried to make sense of the familiar presence she'd sensed in the middle of it all. "Alkali Lake." She'd been there when the images had come in from CSIS and the RCMP, both asking very terse questions as to what an American general had been doing in their backyard.

Jean's grin fades and she steps out of the house, closing the door behind her. "It's complicated."

"Everything here is," Olivia says. "It's standard operating procedure for mutants." She waits for Jean to pick a direction before falling into step with her, wandering the grounds that had been home for most of puberty. "You finally let it out, didn't you?"

Jean nods, but Olivia doesn't need the confirmation. Her abilities have always been very rooted in her telekinesis (the Professor would probably say shifting from one reality could, in theory, be a natural outgrowth of that and she makes note to ask him) but even she can feel the difference. "You're everywhere," she says, watching the way leaves skitter out of their way without so much as a hint of breeze.

"Not quite," Jean says, "but sometimes, it feels like it. My range--" she shakes her head. "It's been years and I'm still not totally comfortable with it. You and Scott were right. I held myself back too much."

"Scott was right," Olivia says, grinning. "I was a kid with a serious case of hero worship. I thought you could move the world if you wanted to."

"Well, I can't do that," Jean laughs, "but sometimes it feels like it." She looks at Olivia, looks closely, and Olivia's step falters. "I'm not the only one who broke boundaries, am I?"

"I didn't use it for years," Olivia says, sighing. "I buried it, but--" she bites her lip. "I've been transferred to something called the Fringe Division and some of the cases we've been working on has brought it back out."

"With a vengeance."

"Right, the telepathy."

Jean grimaces, but nods. "You've been projecting all over the place. We'll work on that too."

Olivia smiles. "I was hoping to get a refresher course in, but I wanted to talk to the Professor as well. There are some things I couldn't remember from when I was younger..." Things like the Cortexiphan trials. "They've been coming back too and he's going to need to know."

 _I imagine, my dear, there are a few things you'd like confirmed as well._

She stumbles, caught off guard by the Professor's comment, and hears him chuckle ruefully.

 _My apologies, Olivia, I forget myself at times._

"It's all right," she says, "I'm just not used to it and, yes, there are a few things I'd like to know."

She feels Xavier retreat from her mind and looks over to find Jean watching her with a smile.

"He still does that."

Jean laughs, steering them onto a path that, Olivia remembers, will take them back to the main house and the Professor waiting in the front hall. "He's missed you."

"I thought it would be better if I avoided this place," Olivia says, "The FBI doesn't know about my status." By now, she's sure, Walter's figured it out, but everyone else seems content to believe her abilities were born of the Cortexiphan trial and she's not in any hurry to argue. "I didn't want to out myself or cause you anymore difficulties than you've already had."

They both grimace. "Yes, and we appreciate the thought," Jean says, "but don't you shouldn't cut yourself off from your own kind just to protect us." The air seems to shimmer around her for a moment. "We can take care of ourselves and, if you'll let us, you too."

"Easier said than done," Olivia says, "but I can try."

Jean smiles. "Good, then let's see if you can remember how to open a door."

Olivia laughs and raises a hand. "All right, but if the door comes flying off the hinges--"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Jean laughs. "Just try not to blow out every window on the second floor again."

Olivia reaches out and, after a moment, feels the door's lock turn.

"Actually," she says, with a smile, "It was the third."


End file.
